CATHOLIC
CHURCH

INTERNATIONAL
STORIES

Islam

Iranian 'Happy' video
youth sentenced (news.com.au) Sept 19 - A DEFENCE lawyer in Iran says six young Iranian men and women
videotaped dancing to Pharrell Williams' Happy and the video's director have
been sentenced to suspended jail terms and lashes.

Gay-friendly mosque
launches quiet 'revolution' in South Africa (The West Australian) Sept 20 - Cape Town (AFP) - Against a global background of rising Islamist
militancy a new mosque where gay people are welcome, Christians too, and women
are treated equally to men opened peacefully in Cape Town on Friday despite
threats of violence.

Rise of Islamic schools
causes alarm in secular Turkey (The
West Australian) Sept 21 - Istanbul (AFP) - When Turkish pupils received their school entry exam
results after the end of last term, textile worker and father Halil Ibrahim
Beyhan received an unpleasant surprise.

Other

Albania's lesson in
Muslim-Christian tolerance (The
West Australian) Sept 21 - Malbardh (Albania) (AFP) - Perched up an Albanian mountain, the
mediaeval church of St Nicolas was rebuilt from a crumbling ruin with help from
local Muslims after the fall of communism, a symbol of the religious tolerance
Pope Francis will be celebrating here on Sunday.

Terrorist raids: family
say they were terrified(Sydney Morning Herald) Sept 19 - Rabie el Achwah, 22, was downstairs in his home in Hector Street,
Bass Hill, pouring himself a glass of milk before morning prayers at 4.45am,
when he was startled by violent thumps on the front door and the front window
shattered.

Sydney police patrol
around mosques (The West
Australian) Sept 20 - Police will patrol mosques across Sydney under an operation
established to head off any reprisals from Thursday's anti-terror raids, but
they insist it's for community protection and confidence.

POLITICS

Abbott declares war on
the Islamic State 'death cult'(Sydney Morning Herald) Sept 15 - Two hundred elite special forces soldiers could be on the ground in
Iraq within days after the Abbott government agreed to a US request to provide
planes and 600 personnel to the region as part of a multinational strike force
against Islamic terrorists rampaging through Iraq and Syria.

'Stupid and ignorant':
Cory Bernardi's comments(Sydney Morning Herald) Sept 21 - Comments by a Liberal senator linking terror raids with a campaign to
ban the burqa have been described as "stupid and ignorant" and
designed to "feed prejudice".